I always sleep through the night without waking up. One morning July 31, 2008 about 3 AM for some unknown reason I woke up, came downstairs, into the kitchen and looked out over the driveway. Why? I do not know. There was no sound, nor light to wake me.
I saw a car. It had what I thought was a column of steam coming up from under the hood. I thought he must have overheated the car. I watched for a few minutes. Then the “steam” turned into fire. I turned around and called 911. I ran downstairs and grabbed the hose from next door and started putting water on the fire. As frazzled as I was, I did not even think of my fire extinguishers.
I looked in the car windows and did not see anyone. The fire got worse, it got to 20 feet into the air. The front bumper blew off. (The fire people told me never to stand in front of a burning car, the front bumper has compressed air cylinders that when they get hot, blow the bumper right off and would break my legs).
The computer screen in the dash came on, then went off. The lights all over the car (brake lights, side lights, etc.) came on and off. The headlights blew up. The front tires blew with a hissss. All kinds of explosions and a light show. Then the front driver’s door clicked unlocked — that should not have happened, unless there was someone inside.
Nice new “hot” car.
Slightly different view.
I opened the driver’s door. The owner climbed out of the car. The aluminum hood totally melted away, all plastic items were consumed. I had called 911 just as the first flame appeared. If I had not, the entire car would have been consumed, and maybe even the driver in it – he was incoherent and sound asleep.
The windshield burned nicely, it was on fire as the driver was crawling out! A windshield consists of two layers of glass with plastic between. The plastic burns nicely.
The driver got out just in time. He had burns on his face and right arm. He put his hands in the water stream that I was putting on his car from my garden hose.
The water from the hose did not even seem to get to the hood, it was burning so hot that the water evaporated in mid air.
Remains of the battery.
The aluminum bracket melted away. Since aluminum melts at 1220º F, I guess it was warm under here.
The driver decided to walk away. I asked him if he knew where he was. He said Dale Mabry. Dale Mabry is about 25 miles east of here. He had sat on my doorstep for about five minutes, but decided that he better not be here. I followed him down the driveway, the firemen just went past us and leisurely put out the fire with a hose. The ambulance arrived, I pointed the driver out to the medics. They said that they had to intubate him as he had breathed a lot of smoke. I never did find out what happened to him.
A wrecker came and took the car away. The burned mangrove branches 20 feet up were trimmed back, but the black smudge on the concrete under the engine is still there.
Motorcycle fire
Once I was driving in Clearwater when I came upon a motorcycle. Fuel was leaking out of the fuel tank and dripping onto the engine. The owner was throwing sand onto the engine to put the fire out, but all it did was raise the fire up higher and closer to the fuel tank. I jumped out and grabbed my fire extinguisher. One blast and the fire was out.
Did the motorcycle owner thank me? NO. He just wailed “My paint job on the fuel tank was ruined!”
Just because he was alive and the fuel tank did not explode? It was close, but…….
Car jack failure
While I was in college, I was asleep and heard “Help”. I got up and went out. Jack Tupper, my roommate, said that he did not hear anything. I insisted that I heard someone call help. We went down the stairs and found our neighbor had been working on his car. He had jacked it up and took the left front tire off. He had his arm under the car when the jack broke and his arm was pinned to the ground under the brake drum. He had passed out.
I lifted the front of the car up and Jack pulled the guy’s arm out.
I never found out what happened to him.
Motorcycle accident
I was driving home from work when a motorcycle and a van hit head on in front of me. I jumped out of my car and approached the site. The motorcycle had landed on top of the rider. I picked up the motorcycle and threw it to the side. A half hour later I noticed a burn on my forearm.I had burned myself on the exhaust of the motorcycle! It burned down through the skin and the fat of my arm.
I still have a white scar 20 years later.
I was driving up Gulf Blvd when I decided to turn around. My Harley did not have a great turning radius, so I ended up on the sidewalk. I stuck my right foot out as I was about to stop. My foot caught on the sod and I was pulled off the bike. My right foot was under the exhaust pipes. I was pinned there with my face in the flower bed and my right foot being burned.
Luckily a good Samaritan came along and was able to right the Harley. I was able to get my foot out then. It had burned my boot, my skin, and right down to the bone. The nurse at the hospital said “You are going to lose that foot!”. Luckily I did not. Through months of therapy it healed. It is only a reddish patch now.